Thanks Bright. I take a group of things and just put them together. They can be grouped by catagory, color, or not at all. If you have a pile of odds and ends, fastening them all together or onto something seems to make them go together, kind of like a quilt. I like to put some things 'in order' and some random things on each item. Everyone can relate to ordinary things, like keys, buttons, alphabet letters, etc. They're even better when there are a bunch of them. Take an item, like a piece of curb shopped furniture, tear it apart and make a completely different item without using materials from anything else, except for screws, nails, paint, etc. Since the furniture was designed and built by someone else, all the pieces, patterns, hardware, etc. go together, so there's no designing. Just build something. Paint any design on an old board, or use a board or sign that aleady has something on it, then cut it up, paying little attention to where the logo is and cut something out of it, a mirror or picture frame, birdhouse, picket fence, etc. You can trash that up with whatever you like, mostly ignoring where the logo is on the wood. Just move the stuff around till it looks 'right'. I love graphic things, so almost always put dark next to light. Try to mix things around and not center things. Most things are symmetrical, but a lot of stuff is more interesting when it's random. Hope some of this makes sense. This forum is a treasure trove of great ideas. Just when you think you've seen it all, someone comes up with another great new idea. Remember, Everyday is trash day somewhere, LOL !! Linda

Thank you, so much! We live in a small town (2700) and there's nowhere but a Walmart within 30 miles to buy supplies. But we have FOUR! great thrift shops nearby in this rural area and GSs where I scavenge for pieces for my loved birdhouses which I just started making this past year. Except for photograpahy, I've never done anything artistic before, so your upbeat response is happily received! And the education and support I'm getting from all of you will surely help me branch out from here. No, I WISH I could make porcelain doors and windows, but I actually took a hammer and screw driver and carefully broke the door and window off an GS incense burner. I've found that using pottery (rather than porcelain) is always easier for this rather brutal technique. (grin) You could probably do this with a dremel too. I used a window shutter from the same piece for the window box, as my BFF wanted a burgundy door, and I didn't have one of those. The wood is manzanita, which is similar to madronna. In certain seasons I find black pieces. (I'm hoping they don't peal) The roof is local shale I pick up on the roadside here in Northern Calif. I love that Cindiloo sees palm fronds too! Thanks for your fun comments. It really is encouraging when people take time to respond. I'm new to this, and it's really motivating and fun to receive tyour feedback. Doin' a happy dance, Daisy

Daisyme- I will probably doe each one differently as I can not do anything twice..it's just mot in me. The same was about my doodling and drafting a design,then transfering it to the substrate, I change it as I go anyway, don't know why I go to the trouble to draw it on initially. I keep a carosel of colored pencils and drawing pad on my coffee table and another next to my bed to capture my ideas as they come to me. Sometimes, they stay in the pad for a long time and then I do someething with them. Slow will tell you that my studio is papered with drawings of projects that I have yet to start, much less complete. lol

No. Shellac is very susceptable to moisture and is a terrible exterior finish. If a birdhouse crumbled apart, I suspect the material was more at fault than the paint/finish. I have made bat houses from both pine and poplar and not used any kind of finish at all----and they last several years before any problems. Use pine and the primer/paint---but do not paint the interior.